J Cooper Photography

I am absolutely obsessed with gallery walls.  I love them in all shapes, sizes, and styles.  I seek them out on blogs and Pinterest.  I think I could have one in every room.  Oh wait.   I do

Lately I have been overly obsessed with butterflies as well.  I have always loved flying creatures…but in the past my love affair has been geared more towards my feathered friends (as evidenced by the insane amount of bird, egg, and nest paraphernalia in my house and wardrobe).  As my obsession with butterflies has developed, I have begun to collect a few butterfly related items.

It started with this cute print I picked up at a home boutique in a tiny town in Kansas (Nell Hills in Atchison for all you locals).  There is not much better to me than a butterfly print… except a butterfly STUDY.

Be still my heart.

I began setting aside old frames not in use for this project.  This weekend Mr. P and I went on a little date (does it count as a date if you have an Ethiopian baby strapped to you?  I’m going with a resounding “yes” as only having one child with us felt like vacation) down to Good JuJu for a night of junking.  I came home with a stack of old sheet music and this cute little retro book.

I took out the stitching in the binding leaving me with some great weathered pages full of butterfly art!

I started scouring Etsy for inspiration and found some really great printables there.  But I was too cheap to purchase graphics and ended up just scouring Google images for free printables.  It is amazing what you can find on the Internet.  Once I had a few images I loved saved to my computer, I started looking around my house for something creative to use for printing.  That’s where the old sheet music came into play!  I created a template in Photoshop and aligned my butterfly in the middle of the page.  Then I trimmed down the sheet music to 8.5×11 and ran it through my home printer!

I also used our local newspaper for printing.  Although it was nearly impossible to find a large enough section of just text (our editors are heavy on the photos I guess).  I used a similar method for this print.  I ran several test prints in black and white and then held them over my newspaper clipping against a bright light to “line up” my graphic.  Once I was happy with the placement, I ran the newspaper through the printer and switched over to color ink!

A little tip for cutting prints down for smaller frames….I take the glass out and position it in the perfect spot and then cut around the glass…no guessing!  {sorry for the horrible lighting….I always do my crafting late at night!}

I really wanted to use some antique or vintage frames but my trips to my local Goodwill left me empty handed.  I don’t typically keep a lot of small picture frames around our house but I wanted to fill in my display.  I spent an afternoon out frame shopping and was shocked at the prices (even at places like Hobby Lobby) of frames with character.  So I hit a few discount shops and purchased some cheapy frames that had good bones.  Then I set to work with my craft paint to antique them a bit.  I used equal parts “black” and “raw umber” paint to age the frames.  I covered them completely (one side at a time) in paint and them wiped it off with a paper towel.

Sometimes I love really modern frames…and sometimes I dig them a bit more rustic.  This time I was really envisioning an eclectic antique feel…like the wall had been collected over time.

Those book pages came in handy during the framing process!

I couldn’t resist even using the title page!

Then I filled in with 2 butterfly frames and a plate from a local shop (Trends).  I grabbed this cute little antique knock off from the Dollar Store…and made the little burlap “speciman” above it!

Once I had enough prints, I spent some time laying them out on the floor in my dining room.  This took me awhile as I had to fiddle with it over the course of a few days.  Kind of like a big jigsaw puzzle…sometimes it takes a few attempts to get things in the “right spaces”.

I liked it.  So I measured the overall dimensions (about 48″x36″) and taped a little guide on the wall for reference.

Then I started hanging them up…starting at the bottom and moving up in the middle.  (I referenced the pictures I took in the dining room as I went).

It would have been safer to make paper templates of the frames.  But I am all about “winging it” (pardon the pun).  It was nap time after all and I had limited time!

Next I started filling in the sides.

Until I had the entire collection up on the wall!! YEAH!  {I am still searching for some little pictures to put in those butterfly frames!}

This spot up in our small loft area used to be home to some large furniture that we sent to live with The Librarian.  I don’t miss having the extra floor space…but the beige walls up there were crying out for something a little less bland.

I’d love to find something really narrow to anchor the collage.  But I’ll save that for next month’s trip to Good JuJu

This spot links the master bedroom to the kid rooms and is the perfect little reading nook.  Plus it sets the stage for our room and I’m really loving how the colors tie into our quilt!

So there you have it.  The world’s LONGEST blog post on creating a gallery wall out of random butterfly prints.  Useless information in the real world…but fun no less

Happy Tuesday!